The walls themselves are art

CELEBRATED designer Noppadol “Ou” Baholyodhin has aligned with art’s Old Masters for his second collection of wallpapers and other home fabrics for Jim Thompson. Inspiration also came from the silk firm’s archives – and from the royal palace. 

East and West certainly meet in the cleverly titled “Bonsai of the Vanities”, a line whose lineage tracks back to old Europe, yet which is imbued with veneration for the artistry of the East. There are 19 designs, all exquisitely woven.

Chaparral is the name given linen bearing intricate illustrations of rural life recreated from a 200-year-old lacquer cabinet found at the palace that’s adorned with gold leaf. Another set, Conrad, recreates classic Chinese fretwork in loop-pile velvet, lovely and durable at the same time.

The “bonsai” appears in Cedros, a luxurious 100-per-cent silk jacquard. Arina has a subtle metallic sheen that undulates through the silk. Hogan is a matelasse with a modern embroidered effect.

“Chaparral is the most sophisticated wallpaper in the collection,” says Ou, now long retired from his London studio and now in charge of home furnishings at Jim Thompson. 

“It has the lush vegetation, the children lazing under the trees and the fantastical birds flying overhead. It comes in distinctive rose gold, cool grey and pewter. Mica forms the ground, elevating an already breathtaking design.”

Ou’s “Scarlet Letter” wallpapers feature 14 patterns inspired by the arts and textiles in the private Thompson collection. Ylang is inspired by a 19th-century chinoiserie document. Sena, in soft tones and a hint of metallic sheen, draws on the Khmer ikat pattern. Aragon is jazzy in contrasting colours. 

There are also four Trims collections – Precious Metals, Naga, Thai Fretwork and Serpentine Ikat.

For sister brand No 9 Thompson, meanwhile, British designer Richard Smith has produced two new lines of home fabrics. 

The Promenade entails delightful velvet, linen in the warp in nine different colours that resemble hand-stitching, and a versatile plain, woven and dyed linen mixed with viscose to give it a hand-crafted texture in 17 hues.

The Pageant Fabrics selection is a cornucopia of Asian motifs and unexpected contrasts of scale and form. There are eight designs, including a stylised, almost geometric flower, a pattern evoking comedia del’arte, and a nod to the hand-painted Chinese wallpaper panels at historic Belton House in England.

“I’ve been obsessed by those panels since I first saw them at Belton House when I was 12,” says Smith. “They’ve been endlessly reproduced, beautifully and authentically, so for the No 9 version I used birds, butterflies and flowers emanating from softly painted plant life, all framed by sashaying bamboo. Dramatic trellis wainscoting at the base is sketched in with a thick, loaded brush. 

“The panels are huge – 3.4 metres high – to allow as much flexibility in the home as possible. If they’re too tall, you just cut off the trellis and use it in an adjoining room, on wardrobe doors or to frame a door. And both have a slightly paler and fresher palette than the originals.”

Smith’s wallpapers take their cues from the fabric collection, with 10 designs available. Agra is based on an original No 9 print that in turn came from classic hand-knotted Indian Agra rugs. Pavilion re-imagines a Chinese fretwork screen but is well suited to walls. 

And the line called Trimmings comes in various materials and nine designs, with endless potential applications, such as trimming furniture or roping back the curtains.

  

BEAUTY SURROUNDS

The collections are available at the Jim Thompson showroom on Surawong Road in Bangkok.

Call (02) 632 8100 or visit www.JimThompsonFabrics.com.